FormulaText function in Excel was introduced in version 2013. It requires just one parameter – the cell from which you want to display the formula. Even if you select a range, it will return the formula in the top left cell.

This is the continuation of the earlier article about Validations. Data Validation using Formula is not very well understood. Hence this article. Try it out and you will immediately know where you can use it. Reading time 9 min.

Simple. Find glaring mistakes in spreadsheets created by other people. Obviously you have an upper hand now! Of course, you need to know how to find mistakes in spreadsheets. Read this article and learn the skill.

These marks indicate some potential error. Outdated formulas, numbers stored as text and so on. If you ignore these errors, you are at a significant risk of viewing and using wrong data for your decision making. Here is a set of articles which explain exactly how to utilize these green marks to your advantage. These are your best friend.

Never interpret anything in any Excel file unless you are sure that all the green marks are handled (all potential errors are corrected!).

The Need: Trace Dependents

Excel workbooks are complex. Multiple persons share and handle the same file. We keep mailing them to each other. Often the person who created the file has left the organization long back. There is never any documentation available about exactly how a file works.

Due to all this, it is almost impossible to remember which value is used in which formula. When you are about to change a value or add more data to existing block, it is absolutely necessary to ensure that all the related formulas are updated. If you forget to update the formula, the results shown there will be outdated and WRONG. This can hamper decisions and can have severe side effects.

What we need is a way to find out which formulas to update when any data changes or grows. Excel has provided this facility since 25 years. Unfortunately, very few people are even aware of it – leave alone using it!